Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1887-01-18
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Curious CAsrs or CARrLEssSEss ny
CORRESPONDENTS
TuE DrrrictiLr TASKS lsrosrD uroS
rItE OFFICIAL "BLiSD READERs
ThU, the Dead Letter Office i' one OF
the most interesting branches Of the gov
ernmsn, .srie. is daily proven by the
number Of visitor. who apply for entrance
thereto and the stranger who visits
Washington .nd leaves wi,hou, seeing
the eurio.i,ie. II contains has missed
much ,h., would in,eres, him. The vast.
ne. Of the work can be imagined when
I, /. stated TIA, The official eoun, places
the letters received and disposed Of by
the ofhee a. numbering over 100000
for the pas, year. OF an average OF H.
l52 for each working day. OF the let
,ers thus received. many ooniain money.
checks, drafts. and other valuablss. The
amount thus coming into the Office last
year from domestic letters alone was
l.rsely over el 900. 900. Other Letters
eoatain article. Of value only 20 the send
sr and receiver-a picture. perhaps. or
lock Of hair; a ribbon "irom Mabel 10
Maud = some uihing irinks, "from
John 20 Joan !" bi, Of a wedding dress
or even. IL may be. = strip Of q baby .
.hroud. The mos, Of these letter. ATE
returned 70 the writers OF forwarded 20
the person to ~hom they were addressed.
Those latter. that are sent 20 the o'hce
on account Of
BIISo MfsDfKrcrrD
20 to lady clerk. Who are 30 esPei, Ia
their work ,hs, they are able no, only 10
couec; .pparen, errors. bat often supply
deficiencies In the address, that would be
more than parilins to Others ls.. skilled.
These "blind readers" ',raish,sn oa,
many my,,srie. A envelope thA, might
to ordinary eyrs appear +. bearing oaly
line AFTER line OF uninislligible ehafae.
,sr,, under their eye. and hands become.
a plainly ~ri,ien address. Many time.
The letters that come Ia ~ "misdiise,ed
come from in,slligen, writers. People
Who, from earelesne.. or haste, have
made an error in come par, Of the ad'
drru. The name. poe, oihee, county
and state may all be plainly written bu,
,hsr, may be no such Office ia the county.
Then the office may be all rish, .nd the
county wrong or both Office and county
right. when the state has been incorrect
ly given. For instance, . letter may
come addressed 10 "Mr. James Smith.
UrbanA, Middle,eI county. Mass" bu, A'
there /. no "Urban." In Middle.eS eoan'
", Mass. and there i, an Office Of ,ha,
name in Middle,e1 county, Va. pea Is
drawn ,hroush the word Mlsaehuss,,'
and
TE woRD VIRGINIA
written in IL, place, aud the ms.ive
starts oai on ia .eoond journey. unoPen-
Cd Then another address may read,
mi. febe MAXIM Tyre. INDIA, braeil co
clay" Thi. will be written clearly,
Mis-. Phoebe Meln,ire. Brazil. Clay eoun.
~, Ind,, and forwarded TO i,s correct all.
dress. The number Of letters coming In
ss blanks is surprising. Many Of these
Letters bear valuable enclosures, bat the
writers have written huuiedly and posted
10 grea, haste. only TO have their work
wasted by the letter. ending in outward
career as "blank" In the Dead Letter
office. Such letters are opened aud re-
turned to the writer, in all possible
cases. 10 fact. in every subdivision OF
the Office, all letters thA, can be return.
ed are forwarded TO the writers. There
are so many busy people in these United
S,aies-so many people are too hurried
TO sign their full names 70 their let,sI
,ha, the dead letter work is likely TO 70
on at . lively rate. Many intelligent,
loving letters are simply written from
"Ilome" and .ignsd "Mo,her" or "Ma.
~" or with some other name ,hs, gives
no clue. These letters rarely see the
light again. A small proportion Of
DEAD LErrLRs
are fictitious. They also 70 TO swell ,h,
destroyed List. Add TO this vas, amount
Of letter, which mus, be disposed Of. ,h,
receipt. handling and distribution Of o..
900 packages Of merchandise. books
Sc. and the annual amount Of clerical
work required fOo,s up largely. Thes,
packages contain articles Of every variety
There is scarcely . branch Of trade Ia
the country ,ha, has no, been represent.
ed by some Of its wares reaching this Of.
fee. Many time package comes be-
cause il is "hsld for postage" or IL may
be "agains, postal regulations" or ,h,
address may have been los, in the mail
and 90 on through an infinite variety o.
causes they stop here. This package
may contain useful articles going to re.
mind some missionary in South Africa o
the friends Who remembered her here
Ths, may contain dainty fan; another
may contain box OF cactus candy made
by the MsIieans These packages are
like the letters, ell returned or forward
ed. tha, can be so disposed Of. ThOs'
that remain and are not applied for q
to add to the liz, Of articles included Il
the dead letter sale. These sales uses
to occur only once IN every three years
bu, owing TO the
0RowTH OF THE BusNEss
Of the oth ee. they have to be he'll nos
once every twelve months Even ther
the large amount Of material on hand !
shown in the fact that st the las, sale
held In January, there were on the lie
over two thousand miscellaneous articles
besides over eighty five packages Of Jew
elry and l.2is books. Time Was wher
the work Of this Office WAS ell done b,
two employees. and even then. n ,h'
story goes, they were not hard workeC
elsrka They would come to their dssk
in the morning. despatch the work per
tanning to them in an hour or two, an'
then retire to look after their outside bus
iness. Nov there are over one hundre'
clerks employed and yet the work Is nsv
er done. Before yesterday mail is ou
ofths way. to-dAys mail comes ciowdini
in-and thus day after day the worl
oo~. nm Conn>ctsd Nth the offics IA 4